Redwoods and Danger
by GigiK
Summary: A roadtrip turns to survival with unexpected heroes to the rescue. Can they survive against nature and an unknown enemy?
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: A new story. I'm still writing Ryan. But, after Friday I thought this would be cathartic. The errors are my own. Happy Reading! Love comments, favorites and followers:)**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own NCIS: LA, only my imagination. Man, I thought, Clearly I have arrived - my second story - I must own the show by now. Sadly, wishes and dreams don't always come true. Yet...maybe someday soon...Deeks...Callen...**

Deeks wondered, not for the first time, why they couldn't just fly back instead of driving eleven plus hours. Or better yet, why couldn't his band of merry techie folks have driven straight back to Los Angles. It wasn't like the three of them were needed to interview the remaining witnesses in Redding (Northern California). A four-hour drive from Reno to Redding in the winter wasn't his idea of fun time in the sun. And then another eight hours back to LA. _Ugh! _Deeks would have been happy to finally get to drive Kensi's Cadillac SRX without her. But, NOT for ELEVEN FREAKING HOURS!

Nell wanted to go visit the Redwood forest but it was a several hour drive in the wrong direction, so she settled for visiting Mount Shasta instead. And while Callen, Sam and Kensi were finalizing things in Reno, Deeks and his two techies would be on a roadtrip. They had about a three or four-hour head start. Just enough time to take in the scenery and meet up with the rest of the gang and finally head home. At least something fun from this trip from hell. Between the snow-covered pass into Reno, and the drama with local law enforcement and everything in-between that could go wrong and did. Next time they say roadtrip, Deeks is going to volunteer to stay behind and finish paperwork.

Deeks turned off the main highway and if he hadn't been afraid of heights before this trip, the bottomless pit to his left would defiantly take care of that.

"Oh, wow. Look at these trees. Look how tall they are. Cool." Nell said staring out the front passenger window.

Nell turned back to Eric who was too engrossed in his tablet computer to notice the trees.

"Hey Eric. Look at the trees."

Eric, annoyed, looked up at Nell, then fell into a trance. He'd never seen Nell this happy and alive before. It was contagious. Not wanting to disappoint her, Eric unlocked his seatbelt, scooted over to sit behind her and buckled himself back in. He also became enamored with the trees. And the way the snow seemed to create a picture from a different era.

Deeks slowed down but never got to see the majestic view. He was too focused on the snow on the roads and the vehicle that's been following them since they left I-80. There wasn't a lot of traffic this way to Redding, maybe three cars total. But it was the way the black SUV seemed to keep pace with them that concerned Deeks the most.

Not the most adventurous driver when it came to snow, Deeks was driving below the speed limit. Several cars passed them by oblivious to the sand/snow encrusted road. But, that one SUV was still there. Lurking.

"Damn. Really?!" Eric yelled at his tablet. "My damn internet went down in the middle of my game. I was just about to break level 72. Ugh!"

Nell looked at her tablet and cell phone. "I have no bars on either my phone or tablet. You'd think they'd put a cell phone tower nearby, even in the middle of a National Forest. I mean what happens if there's an accident." Nell complained, but noticed out of the corner of her eye a roadside Emergency Transponder powered by solar panels. _Yeah, but who's gonna remember it's there in the middle of an emergency._ Nell thought to herself. Just as quickly as the thought entered her mind, she changed direction and thought about the trees and mountains and the great photos she was planning on taking at Mount Shasta.

Deeks cell phone beeped letting him know he had an incoming text message. But forget all about it as he approached a new bend in the road. With the slick road keeping all his attention, he almost missed that the black SUV seemed really close in his rearview mirror. Too close. As he was wondering about the SUV, a motion in front of him had him yell out "WHAT THE HELL?" two seconds before the black SUV behind him slammed into the back of the SRX pushing them forward toward another black SUV that came out of nowhere in front of them and which seemed to be coming at them dead on with a lot of speed. Another hit from the back.

Nell and Eric were screaming. Deeks tried to keep the Srx on the winding road and away from the two black SUVs. But, with the next twist of the road, the speed, the snow and getting hit from behind and in front - it was just too much for the crossover SRX to take and Deeks no longer had any control over where their vehicle was going.

"BRACE YOURSELVES." Deeks yelled to his two passengers as their vehicle spun around and careened over the side of the mountain. Hitting this and that as the SRX flew down the side of the mountain. At the last second before hitting the final obstacle Deeks was able to jam the wheel to the right just before the SUV slammed to a halt forty feet below the now deserted road.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note: Thank you for all the Reviews, Favorites and Followers. I really appreciate it. Keep them coming... Okay - it must be all the spy novels I read as a child - cliff hanger warning...**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own NCIS: LA, only my imagination. Mr. Shane Brennan Sir, I am available to be a writer on the show. Freelance:). Just saying...I've got Spec Scripts...**

It was the silence - the lack of noise in such a disconcerting way that silenced the chaos inside her head that finally forced Nell up into consciousness and all its harshness.

Nell blinked, her vision was blurry and her hearing was hollow. The only sounds registering are the fast beating of her heart pulsating and her labored breathing. The noises overwhelm her senses and she freezes in place, waiting for the calmness to take hold.

One by one her senses come back online. She can feel herself leaning into her seat, titled at an angle, gravity pulling at her. Her seatbelt is cutting into her shoulder. Shards of glass in her hair and in her lap. She smells a strange mixture of oil, gas, muskyness and mold. Turning her head to the right where her passenger door window used to be, she tries to focus her eyes upward toward the direction they came from. Her vision is too blurry, but isn't needed for her to know that it is still snowing. A cold wet breeze enters the non-existent window bringing with it more snow flurries to add to those collecting inside the now mangled SRX.

Feeling blood running down her check, and without thinking, Nell reaches up her right hand but stops midstream.

"AH!" Nell yelled as pain shoots through her sprained wrist. A gift from the deploying airbags.

Behind her, she hears noises. And, as if having an epiphany, Nell bolts up from her seat, only to be stopped by the seat belt and pain that continues to radiate through her body's extremities and behind her eyes.

After a few seconds, regaining her composure and firmly placing the lingering pain at the back of her mind, Nell once again reassess her situation - waiting for other signs of life.

She hears a moan from the back seat.

"Eric?" Nell asks.

Another moan and movement.

"ERIC! ANSWER ME!" Nell said in her 'Hetty' like tone.

"Nell. What happened? Where are we?" Eric asked in a shaky voice.

Relieved that she was not alone, Nell scanned outside the SRX and did a double-take.

"Eric. Listen to me very carefully. DO NOT MOVE. Got it."

A long pause. Too long.

"Eric. It's important. Do you understand? DO NOT MOVE."

"I heard you. Don't move. Got it. Not like I could even if I tried."

"Are you hurt? Are you trapped?"

"What? No, my body just hasn't caught up yet. Man that was scary. I NEVER want to do that again. Flying down a mountain while being chased by an unknown enemy. NO THANK YOU! I'll stick with my X-Box and the virtual world thank you very much."

"Yeah. Me too. How long have we been here? My cell phone and tablet are on the floor somewhere."

"Um. I'd say fifteen minutes or so."

"Oh. That's not too bad. For a second there, I thought you were gonna say an hour or two."

As if a lightning bolt went off inside their heads, Nell and Eric both screamed "DEEKS!" at the same time.


End file.
